Disney fans are eagerly anticipating Disney’s upcoming film Magic Kingdom, a “Night at the Museum”-style fantasy that focuses on Disneyland Park. In a recent interview with Crave Online, director Jon Favreau revealed more details about his process of bringing this intriguing film to the screen.
While a recent decision to direct an upcoming adaptation of the musical Jersey Boys has caused Favreau to push back production on Magic Kingdom, Favreau revealed that he has been hard at work on developing the film. In working on the movie, Favreau revealed, he has even been consulting with Pixar. He explains:
What we’ve been doing is writing a script, going up to Pixar, meeting with the brain trust, coming back down, bringing on artists, story editors and putting it together as though it were an animated film so that by the time we actually film it, we’ll have a rock solid story. I don’t want to rush anything. I want this thing to be perfect. I want it to be one shot one kill, like a sniper. I want to make sure this movie’s right in the crosshairs that we can really knock it out of the park so to speak.
While the film, Favreau says, is still a Disney production, Disney has “been very good about Pixar.” The film’s plot, Favreau explains, follows a family who finds themselves in “an alternate reality version” of the Magic Kingdom. Favreau’s vision is based on “everything that [he] remember[s] and know[s] about the park from going there since [he] was a small child,” and he is working to incorporate both current and classic Disneyland attractions. Favreau says:
“Club 33 is something that we’ve been discussing. I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the vulture in Club 33 as a character. There’s a lot of ideas swirling around now. I don’t know which ones are going to make it in but it’s definitely informed primarily by Walt’s vision of the park, even before and immediately after it opened. A lot of it for people our age there’ll be a nostalgic element to it. People who know Disneyland are going to see that we did our homework, but then it’s ultimately an adventure that’s going to be for the family and for the kids too.
Although the film’s production has been pushed back, Favreau chooses to see the extra time as a benefit, rather than a problem. With three of Favreau’s recent films–Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and Cowboys & Aliens–having been produced under strict deadlines that were not to the films’ benefit, Favreau enjoys the extra time being afforded to him with this film, saying:
“Fortunately there’s no rush on it. I’ve been working on it as a writer now and we’re looking forward to beginning that long lead prep as you would on an animated film. Then you work your way to where you know what the whole movie is going to be before you ever roll camera. You actually watch it as the Pixar people do and actually watch it on a screen and evaluate it before you ever roll camera.”
With all of this extra prep time and Pixar input, we’re even more excited to see how this interesting concept turns out on the big screen. Stay tuned for more updates on this intriguing new film.
